Taking Action to Go Beyond Oil in the Arctic

UPDATE: Activists arrested

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Feature story - September 2, 2010

After over 40 hours hanging below the Stena Don oil rig, forcing the operators Cairn Energy to halt drilling operations, harsh arctic weather conditions forced four Greenpeace climbers to end their occupation by climbing up onto the gantry of the rig, where they were promptly arrested.

Before ending the protest one of the climbers, Sim McKenna from the United States, said via satellite phone:

"We stopped this rig drilling for oil for two days, but in the end the Arctic weather beat us. Last night was freezing and now the sea below us is churning and the wind is roaring. It's time to come down, but we're proud we slowed the mad rush for Arctic oil, if only for a couple of days." More

While hanging above the bitterly cold Arctic ocean, McKenna said: "We've got to keep the energy companies out of the Arctic and kick our addiction to oil, that's why we're going to stop this rig from drilling for as long as we can. The BP Gulf oil disaster showed us it's time to go beyond oil. The drilling rig we're hanging off could spark an Arctic oil rush, one that would pose a huge threat to the climate and put this fragile environment at risk."

Hear from Sim

Day 2 update

Why he took action

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